"I recognise that teaching religious belief may be a good way, perhaps the best way, to impart a sense of right and wrong to children"

This is about the only part of the essay which I could call egregiously wrong, and it mars what would otherwise be a very well argued point. Teaching about religious belief, perhaps, could give some useful insights in conjunction with genuine morals and ethics, but teaching religious belief? Try indoctrination as a more apt word.